Jerusalem- The Arab League will call upon the United Nations Security Council to declare a Palestinian State if negotiations have not borne fruit by September, warned Egyptian FM Ahmad Abul Gheit on Saturday.

 

Palestinian Authority affiliated News Agency Ma'an quoted reports from the Egyptian news site Al-Masry Al-Youm that Abul Gheit said that "Arab countries should act while taking into consideration UNSC Resolution 1515 calling for the creation of a Palestinian state in coexistence with Israel, on which the Arab League decision is based."

 

While the Arab League supports the current round of indirect negotiations which began in May, it gave the "proximity talks" only four months to succeed before withdrawal of its endorsement.

 

Despite claims of progress by the Obama administration, the Palestinian Authority does not believe that the talks have been ineffective.

 

"There is no progress in negotiations, and the situation is still as it was," said PA President Mahmoud Abbas during a recent stopover in Amman.

 

The Palestinian Authority rebuffed calls by Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu for the resumption of direct negotiations between the two parties. "Whoever wants peace must hold direct talks for peace. I hope this will be one of the results of the visit to Washington," Netanyahu said during Sunday's weekly Cabinet meeting.

 

The Palestinian Authority has refused Netanyahu's request, however, citing Israeli policies in the disputed territories as the main obstacle to talks.

 

"Israel refuses to give up the building in the settlements and to agree to renew the negotiations that were impeded by this stumbling block and, therefore, has failed in the intention to transform the proximity talks into direct contacts," PA chief negotiator Saeb Erekat told Palestinian Radio.

 

The Palestinian Authority position is that Israel must agree on the question of borders before direct talks can resume.

 

"There would not be any move to direct negotiations without progress on the questions of security and borders, and in particular, without Israel recognizing the borders of the Palestinian lands it occupied in 1967," Erekat told American intermediary George Mitchell.

 

PA representatives also denied reports that the Abbas administration would be willing to accept continued Israeli control over the Western Wall or that it had proposed a land-swap as part of a deal on borders.

 

Freeze may continue

 

It was reported today that Israel may announce the continuation of the current building freeze outside of major settlement blocs in return for tacit American acceptance of President Bush's 2004 letter to Ariel Sharon.

 

The Bush letter, which stated that "it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of the final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949," has been interpreted by Israel to mean that America will back its retention of the major settlement blocs.

 

Netanyahu scored a political win this week when a majority of ministers backed him in shooting down a bill that would have required a Knesset vote to approve any extension in the current settlement freeze.